Joseph Wright Gallery – Derby Museums Joseph Wright Gallery Derby Museums is home to the world’s largest collection of works by Joseph Wright of Derby. Born in Derby in 1734, Wright is an internationally renowned artist, whose paintings and works on paper adorn the walls of major galleries the world over. Famed as a “painter of light” and for his association with key members of the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment, he is now considered to be one of Britain’s most interesting and wide-ranging painters. The Joseph Wright Gallery is a permanent space dedicated to showcasing the full range of his spectacular paintings alongside small, temporary displays of drawings and prints from the museums’ collection. What can I see? The Joseph Wright Gallery is the place to see Wright’s masterpieces, A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on an Orrery, in which a Lamp is put in the Place of the Sun, and An Alchymist. His much-loved paintings The Widow of an Indian Chief and Landscape with a Rainbow can also be enjoyed, alongside many others. A small number of works loaned from private collections enrich the permanent display from time to time. What can I do?

In the Joseph Wright Gallery you can see twenty-seven paintings by Joseph Wright and read in-depth information about each work. Our knowledgeable gallery assistants are on hand to help you answer any questions you might have. We also run a lively programme of talks and tours on Wright, and families can pick up a Joseph Wright Kit to learn more about the artist and his paintings. What can I learn? In the Joseph Wright Gallery you can learn more about Wright, his life, and world. Discover what it is about Wright’s work that continues to draw people to Derby from all over the world. Visit our online SHOP British Art in the 18th Century British Art in the 18th Century The Glorious Revolution of 1688 was followed by a brief flowering of decorative painting under Sir James Thornhill, which was the closest that Britain ever approached to the developed Baroque style of the Continent. This process was in part due to the influx, following the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, of Italian painters, including the Venetians Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini and Jacopo Amigoni, and French ones, such as Charles de La Fosse.

In the early 18th century there was a new freedom of design and an ambitious draughtsmanship under the influence of French conversation pieces by Philippe Mercier, Hubert Gravelot, Jean-Baptiste van Loo and others and of visiting Italian decorators (Verrio, Pellegrini, Bellucci, Sebastiano Ricci. ) The results are evident in the work of Joseph Highmore (1692-1780), best remembered for his series of twelve scenes from Richardson's Pamela (c. 1745), and of Francis Hayman (1708-1776), whose small portrait groups influenced the young Gainsborough (Mr and Mrs Kirby, National Portrait Gallery). Hayman's most famous works were the decorations for Vauxhall Gardens (1740s). Thornhill's son-in-law William Hogarth, the outstanding figure in English painting before Reynolds and Gainsborough, was, despite his chauvinism and virulently anti-French sentiments, heavily influenced by the continental Rococo style.

Early in his career he succeeded in breaking away from the straitjacket of portraiture, and his moralizing paintings are superb evocations of life in the England of George I and George II. His rich, creamy paint handling and brilliant characterization of textures have a freshness and vitality unequaled in the work of any of his contemporaries. He invented a new form of secular narrative painting that imparts a moral. These paintings were often tragicomedies, although dependent upon no texts, and Hogarth's series of such works were always intended to be engraved for a large public as well as seen in a private picture gallery (just as plays were intended to be performed as well as read). After an apprenticeship to a silversmith Hogarth began as an engraver of satirical prints for publishers (South Sea Bubble, c. 1721). By 1725 he was painting small conversation pieces; these he extended to full-scale portraits in Captain Coram (1740), the Painter's Servants (c. 1760), Self-portrait (1745), the Shrimp Girl (c. 1760) and The Actor Garrick and his Wife (1757).

The Beggar's Opera (Tate Gallery) marked the transition from portraiture to his best known works, the series of moral subjects, influenced by Dutch models, in which he satirised the follies of the age: the Harlot's Progress (1732; burnt); the Rake's Progress (1735, Soane Museum, London); Marriage � la Mode (1745, National Gallery, London); Election series (1754, Soane Museum). In 1748 he went to France with Roubiliac (Calais Gate, Tate Gallery). After Hogarth, the finest draughtsman and caricaturist of the manners of his time was Thomas Rowlandson. Robust humour, exuberance and flowing line are combined in his work, much of which was for the publisher of prints Ackermann. Despite Hogarth's considerable knowledge of and borrowings from continental old masters, he remained in the last analysis English through and through.

This, however, was not the case with all the next generation of painters; and the Scottish-born Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) studied in Rome and Naples in 1736-38 before settling in London in 1739. Until the return of Joshua Reynolds from Italy in 1752, Ramsay held undisputed sway as the most successful portrait painter in London; and to him must be given the credit for the initial marriage of the Italian "grand style" to English portraiture. Ramsay visited Italy again in 1755-57, and on his return his portraits took on a new delicacy and elegance and a silvery tonality. Ramsay and Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) were both superseded in popularity by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), historically the most important figure in British painting.

He was a close friend of Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke and Garrick and was the first president of the Royal Academy and the author of Discourses on the Fine Arts, given to Royal Academy students (1769-1790); the essence of his portraiture is the appeal to the educated eye, above the needs of mere likeness. Born in Devon, he was a pupil of Hudson in London in 1740; he studied in Rome in 1750-1752, with the aim of reconciling the 'grand style' and portrait painting. His portraits include Augustus Keppel (1753-54, Greenwich); Anne, Countess of Albemarle (1759, National Gallery, London); Nelly O'Brien (1760-62); Lady Elizabeth Keppel (1761-62, Duke of Bedford Collection); Lady Cockburn and her Children (1773); the Duke of Marlborough and his Family (1778); Mrs Siddons as the Tragic Muse (1784).

In 1781 he visited the Low Countries; the influence of Rubens can be seen in the Duchess of Devonshire and her Daughter (1786) and in Lord Heathfield (1788). Reynolds possessed great ambitions and a more profound acquaintance with the old masters than any of his contemporaries. His colouring and handling can be compared with Rembrandt , Rubens, and Veronese, and his poses are indebted to the sculpture of antiquity and to Michelangelo. The Discourses that he delivered to the Royal Academy (founded in 1768 with Reynolds as its first president) are the most impressive statement in English of the central ideas of European art theory from the time of Leon Battista Alberti 's treatise. Reynolds' own painting gained a genuine heroic power and elevated grace from his frustrated ambition to be a history painter, although for that very reason he occasionally tumbled into bathos. The third major British painter of the period to study in Italy was a Welshman, Richard Wilson, who worked there from 1750 to about 1757 before settling in London.

His landscape style was formed on Claude, Gaspard Dughet, and Cuyp; but the clear golden lighting of his Italian landscapes carries the conviction of an artist saturated with the Mediterranean tradition. A cooler clarity and classical simplicity pervade his northern landscapes; and, despite the uneven quality of his work, Wilson was the first British painter to lift the pure landscape above mere decorative painting and topography. Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), with his quality of rhythmic line, his gift of seizing a likeness and his love of landscape painting and music, was in every way the antithesis to Reynolds. Trained entirely in England, he had no wish to visit Italy. Instead of the 'grand style,' his tastes in portraiture lay in the delicate flickering brushwork and evanescent qualities of the Rococo. He preferred landscape painting to portraiture, and the strong Dutch influence in his earliest works later gave way to spontaneous landscapes composed from models. Gainsborough worked under Hubert Gravelot in London in 1740; from Hayman he adopted the type of small portrait group in a realistic landscape as in the Artist with his Wife and Child (c. 1751).

His early landscapes reflect the influence of Wynants and Ruisdael (the Charterhouse; Cornard Wood). About 1750 he moved to Ipswich ( Mr and Mrs Andrews, National Gallery, London; the Painter's Daughters with a Cat, National Gallery, London (unfinished]). In 1759-1774, in Bath, his works took on a larger scale and a new sense of fashionable elegance under the influence of the van Dyck s he saw in the neighbouring country houses; examples of this period are: Countess Howe (c. 1760, Kenwood, London); Blue Boy (c. 1779, San Marino, California). Under the influence of Rubens' work he painted landscapes which were more Arcadian in mood and were composed rather than observed: the Harvest Wagon (1771, Barber Institute, Birmingham); Watering Place (1777, National Gallery, London). In 1774-1788 he was in London, in a rivalry with Reynolds, but he was the favourite painter of the Royal Family.

His best works have a poetic quality combined with rhythmic line and a personal technique, for example: Mrs S�ddons (1785, National Gallery, London); the Morning Walk (1785, National Gallery, London). His late popular pictures are an extension of his interest in landscape (Girl feeding Pigs, 1782; the Cottage Door.) This aspect of picturesque rustic genre was carried on by George Morland (1763-1804), whose works were popularised through engravings. In the 1760s Francis Cotes was the most important fashionable London portrait painter after Reynolds and Gainsborough, a position succeeded to by George Romney (1734-1802), who, on returning to London from Italy in 1775, took over Cotes's studio. Born in Lancashire, he was in London by 1762 (Peter and James Romney, 1766; Sir George Warren and His Family, 1769; Mrs Carwardine and her Child, 1771).

In 1773-1775 he was in Italy, where his admiration for the antique resulted in aspirations towards the 'grand style', for which he was ill equipped. He is best known for his studies of Lady Hamilton (as Circe, as a spinstress and as a bacchante). Romney's portraits deteriorated sadly in quality during the 1780s when the young Sir Thomas Lawrence began to make his mark. Painting outside London were Joseph Wright and Raeburn. Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) shows, in his candlelight pictures, affinities with the Utrecht school. His moonlit landscapes recall Vernet . Patronage by Wedgwood and Arkwright, pioneers of science allied to industry, resulted in new subjects (Orrery, 1766; Experiment with an Air Pump, 1768). Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) was the painter of the personalities of the great age of his native Edinburgh. In 1784 in London he came under the influence of Reynolds. In 1785-87 he was in Italy.

His best works are marked by a vigorous and virtuoso handling of paint. Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), born in Bristol, was a child prodigy and enjoyed a lifetime of success. In 1792 he was successor to Reynolds as court painter. He was in London after 1786 ( Queen Charlotte, 1789; Nellie Farren, 1790). His European reputation came about through the Prince Regent's commission to paint the personalities of the struggle against Napoleon (Waterloo Chamber, Windsor, 1814-20); the finest of these anticipate Delacroix (Archduke Charles of Austria; Pius VII). Empty flashiness increasingly marred his later work (Calmady Children, 1824). Throughout the 18th century, portraiture remained the most important genre of British painting, despite the efforts of Reynolds and Gainsborough in their 'fancy pictures.' Even the taste for large-scale scenes illustrating Shakespeare and other themes - which were commissioned toward the end of the century from James Barry, James Northcote, and Edward Penny, among others - never spread far beyond a few patrons.

Sporting and animal painting, however, took on an entirely new dimension in the work of George Stubbs. Johann Zoffany was born in Germany but moved to Britain about 1761 and became a founder-member of the Royal Academy, specializing in elaborate group portraits and theatrical scenes. English landscape painting had its beginnings in the 18th century. Ultimately it was to have considerable influence on the Barbizon school and on the Impressionists. Samuel Scott (1700-1772) painted views along the Thames at London (Old London Bridge; Old Westminster Bridge ); Richard Wilson idealised the Roman countryside and painted evocative landscapes in England (Valley in Wales; Cader Idris ). Alexander Nasmyth, and George Barret also expressed the charm of the English countryside; John Crome (1768-1821), also known as Old Crome, exalted the sense of space and was a precursor of Romantic art. During the second half of the 18th century the evolution of British oil painting was to a great extent paralleled by the extraordinary flowering in watercolours.

The early topographical drawings of Paul Sandby gave way to the delicate linear drawings of Francis Towne, with their patches of colour resembling maps, and, at the close of the century, to the atmospheric unity of the landscapes of John Robert Cozens. British patrons in the 18th century sometimes collected paintings on religious or mythical themes by foreign artists, but at home they rarely commissioned anything other than portraits, landscapes, and marine paintings, although there was in the early 18th century a vogue for grand allegorical decorations in aristocratic houses. The Protestant church, however, did little to encourage painting. In fact, the preponderance of portraits is the most distinctive characteristic of old British collections. Sculpture Pieter Scheemaker (1691-1770) of Antwerp and Laurent Delvaux of Ghent carved a number of tombs in Westminster abbey, but it was not until John Michael Rysbrack from Antwerp settled in England in c. 1720, followed by the Frenchman Louis-Fran�ois Roubiliac in c. 1732, that two sculptors of European stature were active in England.

The busts and tombs of Rysbrack and Roubiliac have a power and vitality previously unknown in English sculpture; they were responsible for the revival that took place in the 18th century. The finest sculpture in England during the 18th century was done by Roubiliac. In 1737 he made his reputation with his statue of Handel for Vauxhall Gardens; towards 1750 he worked as a modeller at the Chelsea china factory (fine terra-cotta busts of Alexander Pope, Colly Cibber and Hogarth, and Martin Folkes (1749). His tombs in Westminster abbey include those of the 2nd Duke of Argyll (1748) and Lady Elizabeth Nightingale (1761). At the end of the century there was a return to the antique and a number of English sculptors went to Rome; among these Joseph Wilton (1722-1803), a pupil of Roubillac (monuments for General Wolfe, Stephen Hales and Admiral Holmes), showed originality.

Thomas Banks (1735-1805) was more uneven ( Thetis and her Nymphs, tomb of Sir Eyre Coote, 1783). Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) produced competent portrait busts (bust of Dr Johnson in Westminster abbey) and executed a number of tombs of classical inspiration. The elder John Bacon (1740-1799) executed the Chatham monument in Westminster abbey and that of Dr Johnson in St Paul's. John Flaxman (1755-1826) enjoyed a European reputation in his own day as the finest sculptor after Canova. In 1775-1787 he worked for Wedgwood, who was popularising Neoclassical designs in his new `Etruscan' ware. Funerary sculpture formed the majority of his later work (Lord Mansfield, 1795, Westminster abbey).

Lecture 15 Enlightenment and Natural Art in France and England (1) - ARTH ARTH Lecture 15 Enlightenment and Natural Art in France and England (1) Lecture 15 Enlightenment and Natural Art in France and England (1) SCHOOL View Full Document This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. Unformatted text preview: ARTH 1441: ARTH 1441: Historical Survey of the Arts: Renaissance to Modern Instructor: Lydia J. Dorsey Department of Art History LSU School of Art & Design Outline Lecture 15 Outline Lecture 15 What is the Enlightenment?

The Rise of Genre Painting in 18thCentury France: Greuze, Chardin The Painter to the French Queen Marie Antoinette: Vigée­Lebrun Portrait Painting in Satire in England: Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hogarth Voltaire’s Neighbor: Huber The World of Science: Wright of Derby Key Terms/Concepts Key Terms/Concepts Enlightenment ancien regime Encyclopédie and the democratization of knowledge French Academy of Painting and Sculpture Academic Salon “natural” art Bourgeoisie Industrial Revolution Empiricism Gentry Grand Manner portraiture What is the Enlightenment? What is the Eighteenth­century idea; defined the intellectual currents, discussions during the century; announced the coming to the modern age Enlightenment = Age of Reason Reason and not religion, superstition, myths informs human decisions, consciousness, moral attitudes Emergence of philosophes (Enlightenment thinkers and intellectuals): Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, d’Alembert, d’Holbach Advocate tolerance, freedom of opinion, law (not arbitrary decisions) govern society Opposition to discrimination (religious or otherwise) and slavery in the colonies, abuse of power, use of public opinion to form a moral consciousness, etc.

Idea of equality: What defines our identity is that we are all human; end of class distinction, birth rights, privileges Voltaire: Figurehead of the Enlightenment Voltaire: Figurehead of the Enlightenment Francois Marie Arouet (1694­1778) “the personification of the Enlightenment spirit” Hated the arbitrary despotic rule of kings, nobility, and the church Protested against the government persecution of freedoms of thought and religion Believed that the salvation of humanity lay in the advancement of science and the rational improvement of an enlightened society that removed the ancien regime (the old order) Rousseau: The Fire­Starter of the Rousseau: The Fire­Starter of the French Revolution Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712­1778) Opposite of Voltaire: arts, sciences, society, and civilization had corrupted “natural man:” salvation lay in return to “the ignorance, innocence and happiness” of its original condition “Man is by nature good…he is depraved and perverted by society” Exalted the peasant’s simple life as the ideal of honesty and unsullied humanity What is the Enlightenment? What is the Enlightenment?

Age of great scientific discoveries in mathematics, physics, biology, etc. Acquisition of knowledge based on empirical observation and scientific experimentation Science as an orderly system, an attempt to bring order to the universe, a secular world view­­classification systems: plants, animals, rocks, cultures in non­European countries, criminals (Linnaeus, Buffon) Knowledge is finite; it can be described and acquired in its completeness: Encyclopédie project: to summarize all human knowledge in one multiple­volume book, ordered by alphabetic entries; (term encyclopedia derived from it) scientific emphasis, but also included historical, technical, religious, moral, and political theory Editor was Diderot whose work brought about the democratization of knowledge Spread of the ideas responsible for the Sample Encyclopédie Entry: Sample “Man: A being that has feelings, reflecting on His actions, thinking, who moves freely on the surface of the earth, and who seems to come out ahead of all the other animals, which he dominates.

He lives in the society that has invented arts and sciences, has an inherent goodness or meanness which is proper to him, and who has given himself masters who established laws.” Chardin: Chardin: Departure from the Rococo Style Jean­Baptiste­Siméon Chardin, The Rayfish, 1727, oil o/canvas By the mid­18th century a strong anti­Rococo current in French art Moving away from the frivolous and artificial and more towards a taste for “natural” art Gradual return to serious subjects, morally uplifting that culminates in Neoclassicism and Academicism of the late 18th and 19th century Chardin famous for still lifes and scenes of domestic life: paintings appreciated by the middle­class Chardin: Chardin: Departure from the Rococo Style Rayfish his reception piece at the Academy Imitates Flemish and Dutch art Modesty of intentions: Chardin insisted on being received as a genre/still life painter Set up Rayfish in hallway of French Academy President of Academy:“You’ve got some very good pictures here; surely they are by some good Flemish painter”(story invented) Chardin: Rousseau’s Philosophy on

 Canvas Chardin: Rousseau’s Philosophy on Canvas Jean­Baptiste­Siméon Chardin, Grace at Table, 1740, oil on canvas Second specialty: painting of children and domestic scenes Chardin epitomized the taste of the bourgeoisie (middle class) with quiet scenes praising the simple goodness of ordinary people: a reflection of Rousseau’s values Simplicity of composition reinforces the rejection of Rococo in favor of honesty and “natural” art of regular “essentially good” people Emotional involvement of parents, play required for the formation of personality (Infants no longer send to nursemaids in the countryside) Louis XV: the royal personification of Rococo owned this painting Chardin: Serious Play Chardin: Serious Play Jean­Baptiste­Siméon Chardin, Boy Building a House of Cards, 1741, oil o/canvas Emphasis on boy’s intense concentration: A serious child, well­dressed with a intellectual curiosity Simplified composition, neutral background—no Rococo flourishes Experiment and “playing around” as pre­condition for scientific discoveries Popular painting in the Parisian Salon; reproduced in many prints that were bought by middle­class art collectors Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Greuze

: The Moralizing Painter Jean­Baptiste Greuze, The Village Bride, 1761, oil on canvas Greuze an extremely popular painter in the 1760s and 1770s Was commissioned the painting for unheard sum of 7,000 livres (French currency) Iconographically a strange hybrid: moralizing intent is fused with sentimental and larmoyant (tearful) stories Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Specialty: Bourgeois family dramas Setting: unadorned, rustic dwelling in the French countryside Arranged marriage taking place: father passes on daughter’s dowry and his blessings Division into male/female realm Left: Emotional good­bye of the bride’s mother and sister(females:emotional) Right: Counter­balance through notary setting up marriage contract (males:business­like) Shows happy climax of rural virtue: idea that happiness is Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Diderot (one of the Philosophes): “Should Greuze encounter a head which strikes him, he would willingly throw himself at the feet of the bearer of that head to attract it to his studio [to pose].”

 Variety of posed, gestures, emotional responses and “character heads” fascinated contemporary audiences Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Jean­Baptiste Greuze, The Father’s Curse, 1777, oil o/canvas Modern adaptation of the Prodigal Son story Son of bourgeois family leaves against his family’s will to join the military Life of soldiers associated with dissipation and sin in 18th century Father curses son as he leaves Pendant painting The Punished Son Eighteenth­century soap opera Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Greuze: The Moralizing Painter Jean­Baptiste Greuze, The Punished Son, 1777, oil o/canvas Conclusion to previous picture Son returns home, regretting his actions But: father has just died; can no longer forgive him his fool­heartedness – sob!

Pretext for more tears Vigée­Lebrun: Vig Painter to the Queen Marie­Antoinette Elisabeth Louise Vigée­ Lebrun, Self­Portrait, oil o/canvas, 1790 Most famous woman artist of the late 18th century Trained by her father, became painter to the Queen Marie­Antoinette, who would be guillotined during the French Revolution More “naturalistic” approach to painting than Rococo Vigée­Lebrun: Vig Painter to the Queen Marie­Antoinette Gazes directly and confidently at the viewer: woman who was independently successful One of the few women to be accepted into the Royal Academy Self­portrait in front of easel: identifies herself with her profession On the easel: a portrait of Marie­ Antoinette Associated with aristocracy: her clothing echoes Rococo frivolity, but her pose is more serious Left France at the outbreak of the French Revolution (1789) together with many members of the aristocracy (emigrés) Later version: Rembrandt portrait replaces portrait of the Queen Vigée­Lebrun: Vig Painter to the Queen Marie­Antoinette Elisabeth Louise Vigée­Lebrun, Marie­Ant

oinette with Her Children, 1787, oil o/canvas Marie­Antoinette: an Austrian woman, disliked by French population Rumors of the Queen’s neglecting her children, sexual dissipation Commissioned as visual propaganda to dispel rumors, but it was not very effective Appears cold and emotionless in a sumptuous palatial room But: Arts Administration did not dare to hang work in the Salon, for which it was commissioned Huber: Voltaire’s Neighbor Huber: Voltaire Jean Huber, Voltaire’s Morning, 1760­ 1775, oil o/canvas Satire not only at home in GB, but also in Switzerland Voltaire: most famous of the philosophes Public face and consciousness of the Enlightenment, public figure Maintained vast correspondence with everybody who was anybody in the 18th century Atheist, but advocate for religious freedom; fought for rights of persecuted Protestants in France, for instance Huber: Voltaire’s Neighbor Huber: Voltaire After 1759 Voltaire lived in exile in Switzerland, near Geneva Starts painting scenes from the aging philosopher’s daily life in his exile: Specializes on satirical Voltaire portraits Huber’s Voltaire portraits become all

 the rage with Europe’s aristocracy Catherine the Great in Russia commissions a whole series from Huber Here: Voltaire gets up in the morning, jumps into his pants, while dictating already a letter to his secretary Now, onto Great Britain!

Now, onto Great Britain! The Industrial Revolution and the Creation of a Middle Class Invention of new technologies predicated by the scientific investigation of the Age of the Enlightenment brought about sweeping change in the economic, social, and cultural realms, first in Great Britain during the 18th century, then all over Europe in the 19th century known as the Industrial Revolution Discovery of steam power (1740s), electricity, and combustion forced a transition from hand labor to mechanized labor, and England had the first manufacturing economy by 1850 Economic changes resulted in a widening middle class who wanted to buy art—the landed aristocracy (gentry) was losing its ground to a manufacturing and merchants Wright of Derby: Scientific Wright of Derby: Scientific Experiments Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher is Giving a Lecture at the Orrery (in which a lamp is put in place of the sun), c.

1763­1764, oil o/canvas Specialty: Paintings of scientific experiments and natural wonders with dramatic lighting effects Paintings demonstrate the new role of science in replacing religion as a new way to understand the natural Wright of Derby: Wright of Derby: Scientific Experiments Center: A so­called orrery: mechanical model of the solar system with metal planets that revolve at the correct relative velocity Candle placed in lieu of the sun; only light source; dramatic shadows Planets move along artificial orbits, cast shadows “Scientific machines” all the rage for entertainment and education in the late 18th century Explain the world rationally and in secular terms; empiricism (only that which can be proven through experiment is to be believed) Wright of Derby: Scientific Wright of Derby: Scientific Experiments Circular arrangement of demonstration echoed by circular composition of the figures Dramatic lighting recalls Italian baroque with Caravaggio Emotional intensity, human drama, intellectual curiosity, science is a serious matter Scientific pursuit of knowledge a problem for all ages (children included) Depicts moments centered around secular science and the Enlightenment revelations with the same drama and importance that was previously reserved for religious scenes Wright of Derby: Scientific Experiments Wright of Derby: Scientific Experiments Joseph Wright of

 Derby, Experiment with the Air Pump, 1768, oil o/canvas A different experimental set up: glass sphere that imprisons a live cockatoo with an air pump, which is creating an artificial vacuum Purpose of experiment: Show that no living being can survive in a vacuum(without oxygen) Scientist looks to viewer: should I release it?

Cruel experiment, but grand drama: let the bird come as close to suffocation as possible, then release the vacuum Wright of Derby: Wright of Derby: Scientific Experiments Another example of Wright of Derby’s use of dramatic light emanating from a single source of light Variety of emotional responses: compassion for girls; boy has no qualms; lovers wrapped up in each other Serious, moralizing intent: skull fragment in a mysteriously glowing glass beaker: mortality as a universal feature of all human life Hogarth: Moralizing Satire Hogarth: Moralizing Satire William Hogarth, The Contract, from Marriage à la mode series, c.

1745, oil o/canvas Satirical humor full of moralizing intent Hogarth worked in series of painting, to be reproduced and distributed as prints Marriage à la mode: an indictment of both fashion fads and false pretense of Aristocracy: series of six paintings that were executed as the basis of prints to be sold Tells the story of Lord Squanderfield (Junior), who marriages a rich girl: a marriage “of convenience” Hogarth: Moralizing Satire Hogarth: Moralizing Satire Lord Squanderfield: an aristocrat without means: swollen foot: gout, indication of the indulgence of the aristocracy To finance his new mansion (seen under construction out of the window) Squanderfield’s son marries rich bride Paintings on wall: indicate waste of money quid pro quo (this for that)arrangement of marriage: Lord Squanderfield points to his family tree (begins with a medieval knight) and rich father offers a dowry— Hogarth attacks the economically based pretense for marriage that was common in the aristocracy Here: marriage contract is drawn up; groom is already bored: admires himself in mirror, bride is inconsolable The problems only get worse… Hogarth: Moralizing Satire Hog

arth: Moralizing Satire William Hogarth, Breakfast Scene, from Marriage à la mode series, c.

1745, oil o/canvas At 1:00 p.m., the couple is taking breakfast Squanderfield spent the night out drinking and in brothels (ladies’ bonnet with dog sniffing at it) Black spot on neck=syphilis Mrs. Squanderfield killed time with music­making (but really love­making) and playing cards (idleness to be condemned)—her bodice is undone and she looks self­ satisfied, her lover has just left Household’s steward exits the scene with a stack of Hogarth: Moralizing Satire Hogarth: Moralizing Satire Classically­inspired interior is typically aristocratic, but the young couple has filled it with cheap knick­knacks (seen on mantle) Paintings of saints in the back room is contrasted by the erotic art in background (we see a naked female foot on a bed covered by a velvet curtain): underlines combination of wasteful spending and moral dissipation And drama continues to ensue… Next scenes: The Inspection, The Toilette, The Banio, and The Death of the Lady Gainsborough: Portraiture in Gainsborough: Portraiture in Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. Britain and Mrs.

Andrews, c. 1750, oil o/canvas Double portrait of a rich landowning couple (gentry) in the style of the popular “conversation piece” Rifle, dog: reference to hunt, a privilege of the aristocracy Mr. Andrews was not “old money,” but a “nouveau rich” Marriage as an economic contract: wife had a significant dowry which probably included the land seen in the painting He’s posing as if he were a long­established landowner, and this painting was a way to assert his status in society Gainsborough: Portraiture in Gainsborough: Portraiture in Britain Picture is all about ownership: Mr. Andrews owns the land in background, he has laborers, fields ploughed, stacked up sheaves of hay Land as the source of his wealth Do possessions include Mrs. Andrews? She is wearing Rococo inspired outfit Gainsborough: Portraiture in Gainsborough: Portraiture in Britain Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1787, oil o/canvas Gainsborough: specialist for portrait painting; much in demand by the landed gentry Portraits often emphasize the landscape, sought to match Sheridan’s natural beauty with the rustic setting Class distinction is stressed by pose, dress, environment Blends “naturalistic” representation of sitter with lush Rococo setting as backdrop: “feathery” brushwork, soft focus reminiscent of Watteau Reynolds: First President of the British Academy Reynolds: First President of the British Academy Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lord Heathfield, 1787, oil o/canvas Britain: backwater for painting until second half of 18th century— imported art or imitated other countries’ styles British specialty: portraits and landscapes 1768 (120 years after France): British Academy of Painting founded with Reynolds as its first president “Grand Manner” portrait: elevate the individualized sitters by communicating their grace and refinement through portrait conventions such as large scale of figure, dynamic landscape setting, Reynolds: First President of the British Reynolds: First President of the British Academy Reynolds mostly a portrait painter Lord Heathfield: British governor of Gibraltar Heroically defended the British fortress­island during the Spanish

 siege, 1779­1783 Background: smoke of battlefield, canon Lord Heathfield sat for painting only after his return to GB in 1787 Grand Manner Portraiture Grand Manner Portraiture West: West: An American­British History Benjamin West, The Death Painter of General Wolfe, 1771, oil o/canvas American­born painter who made his career as a history painter in GB History painting with a contemporary twist: contemporary dress and recent event Episode from after the capture of Quebec by the British in 1758 during the Seven Years’ War West: West: An American­British History Painter West’s response to criticism by British king Georges III: “The classic dress is certainly picturesque, but by using it I shall lose in sentiment what I gain in general grace.

I want to mark the time, the place and the people and to do this I must abide the truth.” Christian iconography in the manner of “lamentation of Christ”—Wolfe becomes a heroic martyr in the service of the state Combines contemporary costume and naturalistic detail with the conventions of history painting West: West: An American­British History Painter Benjamin West, Penn's Treaty with the Indians, 1771­72, oil o/canvas Follow­up work to Death of General Wolfe British public fell in love with it Depiction of native Americans continued to incite curiosity (depictions rare in Europe) West: West: An American­British History Painter Here: scene from early American history William Penn acquiring the land that is today Pennsylvania from native Americans through barter Pennsylvania was West’s home state A Contemporary Adaptation by A Contemporary Adaptation by Californian Artist Sandow Birk ­paintings/ ­works/ In Summary… In Summary… The Enlightenment ushered in a new way of thinking about the world with scientific, technological, and philosophical developments (Voltaire and Rousseau) and set the stage for numerous revolutions to take place (Industrial, French, American) Rousseau rejected the idea of progress and argued for a return to natural

 values, exalting the simple, honest life of peasants: influenced the “natural” artwork of Chardin and Grueze with with their sentimental narratives about rural families A taste for naturalism led to the popularity of portrait paintings and grand manner portraiture with landscape backgrounds (Gainsborough, Reynolds), which sought to elevate the sitter by stressing their elegance and refinement renewed interest in realism (in opposition to Rococo) combined with contemporary subjects in history painting ...

Lecture 13 French Baroque and Absolutism LSU ARTH1441: ARTH1441: HistoricalSurveyofthe Arts:Renaissanceto Modern Instructor:LydiaJ Lecture 13 French Baroque and Absolutism

Question: The most famous works of which 18th century English painter include 'An Experiment On A Bird' and 'The Orrery'?
Answer: JOSEPH WRIGHT of DERBY